Madhavan Kezhkepat Palat (born 9 February 1947) is an Indian historian, scholar of modern world, and political commentator. He is an expert on European and Russian history. In an academic career extending over nearly five decades, he has played a seminal role in promoting understanding of Russian history, culture, literature, and society in India. Biography Madhavan Kezhkepat Palat was born in a distinguished family from the southern state of Kerala in India. His father, the late Mangat Gopal Menon, belonged to the Indian Civil Service (ICS). After taking his B. A. (Honours) degree in history from the University of Delhi, (St. Stephen's College, Delhi), India, in 1966, Madhavan Palat read history at Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculation 1966), and was admitted to the B. A. degree in 1968. He then went on for graduate studies to St. Antony's College, Oxford, in 1969, where he pursued his research on modern Russian history and was awarded the D.Phil. degree in 1974. In 1974, Madhavan K. Palat joined the faculty of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India, where, in 1989, he was appointed Professor of Russian and European History at the Centre for Historical Studies, a position he held until his voluntary retirement from the university in 2004. He was also Dean, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (2003–04). His area of specialisation, Russian and European history, is rare in a country where few historians have ventured out of Indian History. From 1974 to 2004, he taught non-Indian history and carried out research in that area at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was a visiting professor of Imperial Russian history at the University of Chicago (2006). Madhavan Palat was National Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, India 2010–2011. [verification needed]. Since 2012, he has also been a member of the IIAS Governing Body. Since 2011, he has been the Editor of the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. Under his editorship, about 20 volumes of this important source of primary research have already been published. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, a think tank based in New Delhi, India. Madhavan K. Palat has also held several other important positions, both in India and abroad. He is a trustee of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. He is also a member of the National Committee on Commemoration of 125th Birth Anniversary of Jawaharlal